Connecting device



L. E. SCOTT.

couuacfme DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-30.1919.

1,355,169. ted Oct. 12,192

7 I FILER a amvenboz WWYMWQ 61mm, S

UNITED STATES PATIENT OFFICE.

LESTER E. SCOTT, OF PLANTSVILLE, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE STEEL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION CONNECTICUT. I

CONNECTING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 12, 1920.

Application filed January 30, 1919. Serial No. 274,093.

To all whom it may concern I Be it known that I, LESTER E. SCOTT, a citizen of the United States, residing at 'Plantsville, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Connecting Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to fastening means automobile truck. The invention, while illustrated in the form of a spoke clamp may also be embodied in a number of other and dilferent forms to be secured to other parts of the wheel for the same primary use.

The primary object is to provide an anchoring plate having hooks adapted to receive the respective terminal portions of the traction element and to provide movable means for closing the interval between the tips or bills of said hooks, said means being movable to give free access to the bills of said hooks and, in closed position, being held firmly against the bills of said hooks to brace them against the strain of the pull of the traction element. A further object is to provide an expeditious and reliable means for holding said keeper or closure means in closed bracing position, or releasing it at will, making provision for forcing said closure means or keeper tightly against the bills of said hooks, all features for accomplishing the above mentioned objects being provided on a self-contained unit, none of the parts of which need be separated in opening or closing the closure means. 7

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 represents a transverse sectional view through the tire, rim and felly of a wheel, showing a spoke thereof broken away, in elevation, with a device embodying my invention applied thereto and anchoring the terminal portions'of a traction device passing transversely across the outer peripheral face of thetire; Y

Fig. 2, a perspective view of a device, of clam form, embodying my invention and corresponding to the form of device shown in Fig. l, the keeper being closed;

Fig. 3, a similar View, the keeper being open; and

Fig. 4:, a longitudinal sectional View passing through one side of the keeper and showing a bill of one of the hooks, broken away, in elevation, engaged thereby.

Referring now in detail to the drawings A and B indicate the respective clamp plates provided with perforated end flanges O to receive bolts D on which wing nuts E are screwed to draw the two plates together on the outer portion of a spoke F of the wheel in engagement with the inner peripheral face of the felly G, on which is mounted the tire H. I indicates one of the traction or anti-skidding elements, a chain being illustrated, of the fixed point 'or anchored type, which passes transversely across the outer peripheral face of the tire and has its terminal portions anchored by the respective hooks 1 of the plate A. i i

The plate A is provided with two hooks 1 presented toward and, preferably, in line with each other and preferably integral with said plate. The adjacent bills of the hooks 1 are at an interval from each other, 1eaving an opening to allow the ready application and removal of the terminal portions of the traction element therethrough to and from said hooks.

Thetips of the bills of said hooks 1 are sharply curved away from the plate A to provide studs or projections 2.

-Mounted on said plate A or formed integral therewith are two lugs 3 extending transversely across said plate and between the hooks 1, these lugs 3 being perforated near their upper ends and also near their lower ends and serve to brace the plate transversely, also, the perforations in one plate register with those in the other plate.

A keeper or closure means having a perforated lug 5 fitting between the upper portions of the lugs 3 is mounted therebetween for pivotal movement by means ofa pin 6 passing through the registering perforations in the upper portions of said lugs 3 and the ]us 5. V

This keeper has an opening in its middle portion, leaving straps on each side to engage with their. inner edges the lateral;

outer faces of the respective studs 2 and with their inner faces the outer faces of the bills of the hooks 1, bracing said hooks against outward or lateral strains so long as said keeper is held firmly in its normal position.

The free or lower end of said keeper is bifurcated, provided with shoulders 7 to engage the adjacent portions of the outer edges of the respective lugs and with grooves 8 in the outer faces of its bifurcations, said grooves 8 being in'alinement and extending transversely of said bifurcations and longitudinally of the plate A.

A bolt 9 having a perforated rounded end 10 is pivotally mounted on the plate A by means of a pin 11 passing through the registering perforations in the lower portions 7 of said lugs 3 and the rounded end 10 of the bolt. A block or saddle l2- freely mounted on the bolt 9 is provided with a longi tudinal rib 13 normally seated in the recesses or grooves 8 of the keeper, and a nut 14 working on the bolt 9 is adapted to hold the block 12 in normal position and may be moved to free the block 12 so that the latter may be moved out of normal position to an extent sufficient to freethe keeper a or to clear the ends of the bifurcations of the keeper 4 in describing an are when moving with the bolt 9 as the latter is turned on its pin 11;

' The keeper 4 is slightly resilient and so proportioned and mounted that, when turned on its pivot to closed position and engaging the bills of the hooks 1 its shoulders 6 will not engage the lower portions of the outer faces or edges of the respective lugs 3 until forced into such engagementby the action of the nut 14 forcing the block 12 toward the pivot pin l1,thus putting the keeper alunder tension and holding it firmly in engagement with the respective hooks to brace the latter, as well as to close them against the escape of the terminal portions of the traction element.

In the form and arrangement shown and in the primary uses stated, the pivotal point of the keeper 4 will be adjacent the felly of the wheel, while that of the bolt 9 will be nearer the hub and the hooks will lie between two adjacentspokes, at an interval radially from the inner peripheral face of a the felly and equi-distant from the sides ters Patent isz thereof to provide" the greatest amount of access to'facilitate the application to said "hooks of the respective terminal portions of the traction element. 1

'IIaving thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Let- 1. A connecting device comprising a plate having two hooks presented substantially toward each other with their bills at an interval from each other to delimit a single passage for the application of a portion of against the outer faces of said hooks to brace them against strain.

2. A connecting device comprising a plate having two hooks presented substantially toward each other with their bills at an interval from each other to delimit a single passage for the application of a portion of an element to the respective hooks, in combination with a keeper in normal position bridging said passage and held firmly against the outer'faces of said hooks and also engaging lateral faces of the respective hooks to brace them against strain in two directions.

3. A connecting device comprising a plate having two hooks presented substantially toward each other with their bills at an interval from each other to delimit a single passage for the application of portions of an element to the respective hooks, said hooks having outwardly projecting parts, in combination with a keeper in normal position bridging said passage and held firmly against the outer faces of said hooks and engaging the lateral faces of the projecting parts of the respective hooks in a plane at an angle to the plane of engagement with the outer faces of said hooks, and means for forcing said keeper into such engagement. I

4:. ,A connecting device comprising a plate having two hooks presented toward each other with their bills at an interval from each other to delimit a single passage for the application of portions ofan element to the respective hooks, in combination with a keeper pivotally mounted on said keeper and normally closing said passage, said keeper having its free end bifurcated, the bifurcations of which are provided with transverse grooves, a part pivotally mounted on said plate and normally extending between said bifurcations, a block mounted on said part for movement longitudinally thereof and provided with'means fitting into the grooves of said bifurcations in normal poother with their bills at an interval from each other, .in combination with a keeper pivotally mounted on said plate, in normal position bridging the interval between the bills of said hooks and simultaneously engaging both of said hooks, said keeper having a bifurcated end, the bifurcations of which are provided with transverse grooves, a part pivotally mounted on said plate and normally extending between said bifurcations, a block mounted on said part for movement longitudinally thereof and provided with a rib normally fitting into the grooves of said bifurcations, and means having positive engagement with said part and movable thereon to force said block toward the pivotal point of said part to force said keeper firmly into engagement with said hooks or to permit the movement of the block in the reverse direction to free said keeper.

6. A connecting device comprising a plate having two hooks presented toward each other with their bills at an interval from each other to delimit a single passage, in combination with a keeper pivotally mounted on said keeper and normally closing said passage and simultaneously engaging both of said hooks, said keeper having a bifurcated end, the bifurcations of which are provided respectively with shoulders normally engaging the plate, a part pivotally mounted on said plate and normally extending between said bifurcations, a block mounted on said part for movement longitudinally thereof, and means having position engagement with said part and movable thereon to force said block toward the pivotal point of said part to force said keeper firmly into engagement with said hooks or to permit the movement of the block in the reverse direction to free said keeper, the movement of the block toward the pivotal point of said part being limited by said shoulders and the block and bifurcations being provided with interengaging parts.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LESTER E. SCOTT.

lVitnesses:

WARREN D. CHASE, HELEN E. F INNIIGAN. 

